When Excessive Drinking Results In Serious Health Problems, Relationship And Friendship Conflicts And Difficulties, And Grief And Loss Issues
Posted by admin - 23/05/10 at 09:05 pmFor more than a few years alcohol dependency research has revealed the fact that there is strong linkage between alcohol addiction and life-threatening health conditions and mental health issues such as depression.
As an illustration, in 2005, medical exploration and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics revealed that alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It can be emphasized that this considerable alcohol-related expense was significantly more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is pertinent to stress these facts, it is also important to highlight the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More correctly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.
Definitely, substance abuse investigation has shown that alcoholism can increase the risk for different kinds of cancer, especially cancer of the kidneys, rectum, colon, voice box (larynx), esophagus, throat, and the liver. Abusive and recurring drinking can also lead to immune system difficulties and deformity to the fetus during pregnancy.
Hazardous and Irresponsible Drinking Breaks Down the Person’s Systems and Organs
What is more, if alcohol dependency continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will probably be affected in an unsafe manner. For example, chronic, excessive drinking is particularly detrimental to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Extreme amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and eradicates the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This medical circumstance results in a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can in the long run lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a precarious and possibly lethal disease. Abusive, long-term drinking not only can lead to acute liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this dangerous may be unalterable and may, in turn, result in severe disease or an untimely death.
The Critical Nature of Alcohol Treatment
It is vital, consequently, to know how to recognize the different alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol addicted individual can be given the opportunity to get the professional alcohol rehabilitation he or she needs.
Alcoholism and Technologically Advanced Brain Research
Fortuitously, scientific examination is continuously discovering unique and important information. Recent alcoholism exploration supplies a first-rate example. Stated another way, for roughly the last ten years, technologically advanced brain-imaging scanning devices have shown that continuous and long lasting hazardous drinking alters the structure of the brain to a great extent, thusly resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or possibly as long as the person lives.
More explicitly, medical research has shown that people who have been drinking excessively for an extensive length of time increase their risk for developing long-term and severe alterations in the brain.
This type of damage may be directly related to the alcohol’s effects on the brain, to severe liver disease, or might be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health.
Malnutrition, Abusive Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final example of diverse health problems that are to a large extent associated with alcohol dependency, take into consideration the fact that according to medical examination, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a health problem that limits the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
This form of organ breakdown is associated with malnutrition and to a variety of serious neurological and mental syndromes including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical problem is a long-term debilitating health problem that is epitomized by persistent memory and learning problems.
Excessive and Irresponsible Drinking Also Leads to Friendship and Relationship Conflicts and Difficulties and Grief and Loss Issues
In addition to critical health issues, hazardous and abusive drinking also results in friendship and relationship difficulties. For example, people who have drinking problems many times experience affairs, divorce, marital problems, and sexuality problems, and they many times go through grief and loss issues.
Summary: The Importance of Education
It is plain to see that repetitive, excessive drinking is directly or indirectly related to numerous serious medical problems that can and do result in dangerous illness and premature death. Such information needs to be stressed and presented to everyone in our society, especially to all students, so that a massive amount of people will be able to abstain from excessive drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the quality rehab they require.
Let us look at this sensibly. Yes, alcohol rehabilitation is important, but alcohol therapy is something that is routinely done AFTER the fact. Education, conversely, is something that is done BEFORE the problem emerges. Stated differently, whereas alcohol rehabilitation is “reactive,” education is “proactive.” It is affirmed that both approaches are necessary when discussing alcoholism and alcohol abuse.
